Luka Doncic's Lingering Injury: GAMEDAY Mavs vs. Thunder

With Luka Doncic out, the Mavs have yet to win this season.

The Dallas Mavericks look to finish their three-game road trip with a win against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday evening. However, the Mavs will have to overcome their star player Luka Doncic being sidelined with a left ankle tweak. With Doncic out, the Mavs have yet to win this season.

In the third quarter of Friday's 106-93 loss at Indiana, Doncic aggravated his ankle and admitted postgame that he probably shouldn’t have kept playing. Despite the ankle injury, Doncic finished with 27 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. However, he finished just 1-of-8 (12.5 percent) from three-point range in what ended up being a night where the Mavericks as a team finished 4-of-29 (13.8 percent) from deep.

Dallas has slipped to seventh in the Western Conference by major cause of their bad three-point shooting. The Mavs are now 26th in the NBA in from beyond-the-arc at 32.7 percent. By the way, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban thinks the NBA changing from Spalding to the Wilson basketball as being the reason for players’ shooting struggles.

Without Doncic, the Mavs attempt to get back to .500 against the Thunder. Jalen Brunson will likely start in his place. OKC is coming off a 116-95 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers. Oklahoma City only averages 99.1 points per game and is at the bottom of the West Standings.

It is the first of four meetings between Dallas and OKC in 2021-22. After losing 9 of their last 12 games, can the Mavs get back on track?

INJURY REPORT: Mavs: Doncic (left ankle soreness) is out; Sterling Brown (left foot soreness) is questionable; Willie Cauley-Stein (personal reasons) is out;

Thunder: TBD

RECORDS: DALLAS MAVERICKS (12-13) at OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (8-17)

WHEN: Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. CT

LOCATION: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, OK)

TV/RADIO: BSSW, 97.1 The Eagle (KEGL)

ODDS: The Mavs are 4-point favorites vs. the Thunder on FanDuel. 

NEXT: On the second night of a back-to-back, the Mavs travel back to Dallas to host the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night. 

FINAL WORD Disappointed in the overall team-wide shooting slump, Doncic after the loss to the Pacers:

“Right now, we’re just not making shots. We have a lot of open shots, we’re just not making them. I don’t know why. We just got to maybe attack more, shoot less 3's. I think we just got to think paint first, then shoot 3's. I took a lot of bad 3's. We should think rim first.”